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Golden Nuggets: Women's Swimming and Diving National Championship Links

Missy Franklin sets a new American record while leading Cal to its fourth National Championship.

Evan Pike-USA TODAY Sports

Women's Basketball - NCAA Tournament Round of 32

Los Angeles natives and USA Basketball teammates Reshanda Gray and Imani McGee-Stafford will be key players to watch in tonight's Round of 32 match-up between Cal and Texas. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. PT.

McGee-Stafford referenced Gray's toughness more than once to describe the Pac-12 Player of the Year's game, even back in the day on the courts of Southern California. Now, the 6-foot-7 McGee-Stafford has a four-inch height advantage on Gray.

''As aggressive as she is on the court, she's really sweet, really nice,'' McGee-Stafford said. ''She's always been much stronger. I think I caught up to her now. We'll see.''

Gray gives props to McGee-Stafford for her poetry talents, a creative outlet that helped save McGee-Stafford after multiple suicide attempts before college. McGee-Stafford discussed being molested and the suicide attempts in a recent ESPN documentary.

FiveThirtyEight gives Cal a 67% chance to advance past Texas to the Sweet 16.

Baseball

Lucas Erceg was again the hero for the Golden Bears, hitting the game-winning homer in the eighth inning to lead Cal to a 3-2 victory over Washington at Husky Ballpark. It was the second day in a row the sophomore third baseman hit a solo shot over the fence to lead David Esquer's squad to a 3-2 Pac-12 road win. Cal is now 4-1 in conference play and 17-5 overall.

Softball

Down to their final three outs and trailing 4-2, the No. 12 Golden Bears scored four runs in the seventh inning to storm back to beat No. 21 Arizona State 6-5 Saturday at Farrington Stadium.

Men's Tennis

No. 28-ranked Cal blanked Purdue, 5-0, on Saturday morning in the BNP Paribas Collegiate Challenge presented by Oracle to advance to the consolation final at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Women's Tennis

Third-ranked California took a 3-2 lead at No. 7 USC in their Pac-12 Conference match on Saturday, but a season split with the Trojans was not to be. The Golden Bears fell, 4-3, at Marks Stadium in what was their fourth consecutive road dual match.

Football

Cal ended its second week of spring football practice with a pair of full scrimmage periods complete with officials and about 50 plays of full contact Friday at Kabam Field at California Memorial Stadium. The offense and defense both had their moments during the workout.

Lacrosse

Gaby Christman garnered a point on all three California goals, but the Golden Bears' women's lacrosse team fell to Towson, 16-3, Saturday afternoon at Towson. Cal fell to 1-6 on the year. Christman tallied two goals and one assist.

Sand Volleyball

Cal's No. 1 sand volleyball pair of junior Sarah Cole and Emily Lunt reached the championship match of the Bronze Bracket at the Queen of the Beach Challenge in Honolulu on Saturday before falling in a tight, three-set final.

Women's Gymnastics

The No. 20 Golden Bears turned in their second-highest Pac-12 Championships total in school history, a 196.150, to finish sixth overall at the 2015 conference championship at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City,

After a stunning rookie campaign with seven conference weekly honors, 29 event titles and three to-10 national rankings, Tori-Ann Williams caps off an amazing year with the Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year Award.

Women's Swimming and Diving - 2015 National Champions

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Led by sophomore Missy Franklin, who captured the 200-yard backstroke - her third individual title of the meet - California powered to its fourth NCAA Championship Saturday.

Franklin, who also won the 200 individual medley Thursday, set an American record on her way to victory in the 200 free Friday and had a role in two relay wins, was named the NCAA Swimmer of the Year. Cal head coach Teri McKeever was also chosen the National Coach of the Year.

Cal finished with a school-record 513 points, well ahead of runner-up Georgia, which had 452 points, and third-place Stanford, which totaled 363 points. The Bears' previous championships came in 2009, 2011 and 2012. The year's squad also tied the 2011 team for most event wins with seven. In all, nine different swimmers captured at least one race at the meet, either individually or on a relay.